Barry Hawkins Offers Each Way Value At The World Snooker Championship

The 2017 World Snooker Championship gets underway at the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday morning and a 'top-heavy' draw ensures we are looking towards the bottom-half for some each-way value...

Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the World Championship five times

Barry Hawkins has reached at least the quarter-finals of the World Championship for the past four years - one final, two-semi finals

Top-Half Of The Draw

Defending champion Mark Selby is part of a ridiculously strong top-half of the draw that includes Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy and Marco Fu.

Selby will have to do things the hard way if he is to win the World Championship for a third time in four years and he is currently 9/2 for the title (Paddy Power).

That price looks a touch short to us as Selby could well meet the 2010 champion Neil Robertson or the in-form Marco Fu, who has enjoyed something of a renaissance during a 2016/17 campaign that has seen him win the Scottish Open, reach the final of the Players and the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix, UK Championship and The Masters, in the quarter-finals, before a semi-final with O'Sullivan or Ding.

O'Sullivan has an excellent record at The Crucible as he has reached at least the semi-finals in 11 of his 24 appearances and the five-time champion is closing in on Stephen Hendry's record seven titles at this venue. O'Sullivan is a tempting 11/2 but he won't have it easy either as he is pencilled in to meet Shaun Murphy in the second round and last year's runner-up, Ding Junhui, in the last-eight.

Hawkins To Soar

Judd Trump is the star attraction in the bottom-half of the draw and he is currently a 9/2 joint-favourite at the head of the market. That price looks a touch skinny for a player who has reached just one Crucible final (Trump lost to John Higgins in the 2011 finale) and we are prepared to take him on this year.

Barry Hawkins is in the same bottom quarter as Trump and he looks very tempting each-way value at 20/1 (Bet Victor). Hawkins has reached at least the quarter-finals during his past four visits to The Crucible, including a runner-up effort in 2013, and the World Grand Prix winner does have recent form against Trump as he beat him at the Grand Prix and last year's Masters.

Hawkins is pencilled in to meet Trump in the last-eight this year and the other dangers in the bottom-half include possible semi-final opponents John Higgins and Stuart Bingham.

Higgins has won the World Championship four times but has lost his past three meetings with Hawkins, which ensures Bingham is our other each-way pick at 25/1 (BetVictor.com). The pressure told on the 2015 World Champion last year as he crashed out in the first round during his title defence but he should be stronger for that experience and there is very little pressure on the Welsh Open winner this time around.